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Family Portrait
简体
Family Portrait
全家福

Learn to Use Be Able to

Date: May 11 2012

Themes: Family

Grammar: Be Able To

Intro

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In the US, it is common for families to be spread out all over the country. Getting everybody together can be challenging. That’s why it’s nice to capture the whole family on film in a family portrait.

But getting a good family portrait comes with its own challenges. First, everyone has to agree on what to wear. Then the kids and babies in the family have to sit still long enough for the photo to be taken. Then you have to cross your fingers and hope that nobody blinks! Hear Mason and Amy talk about their family portraits.

在美国,家人分散居住在全国各地是很常见的事情。大家相聚在一起很不容易。这就是一家人照全家福的妙处所在。
但要拍一张好看的全家福也是很有挑战性的。首先,大家要商量穿什么衣服。然后,家里的儿童和婴儿要能长时间坐着不动,以便照相。最后还要祈祷,但愿没人眨眼睛!请听梅森和艾米谈论他们的全家福。

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Mason

Mason

Amy

Amy

Mason:  So, I think I unfortunately have another family portrait coming up.

Amy:  With your wife, that family, or parents and siblings?

Mason:  Yeah, with the extended family. It seems like every two years or whatever, my mom or my grandma just wants to do a family portrait.

Amy:  Right. And do you have to wear coordinated outfits and everything?

Mason:  Yeah. It’s not like insanely coordinated, but there’s definitely some conversation about do we do colors, do we do kind of like just neutral tones…

Amy:  The one large family portrait I ever did was with my whole extended family, and for some reason we decided to wear black shirts, and so we look like a big fascist army. It’s the weirdest picture.

Mason:  Yeah. I have some younger cousins, and trying to get them to pose and sit straight is never a good idea. And, you know, it takes what, an hour generally to get enough family portraits done. And they lose attention after the first 10 minutes.

Amy:  Of course. And what about the older people, is there any bickering among them?

Mason:  Not so much. The one fun part is we always make sure and do a goofy picture. So…

Amy:  That’s cute. Well, it’s good to be able to look back at all your dated family portraits and realize how much more attractive you are now.

 

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Discussion

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Mason’s mother and grandmother want to take a new family portrait with their whole extended family. Mason’s family usually takes a new family portrait every few years.

Amy asks if Mason’s family will wear coordinated outfits for their portrait. Mason says they won’t wear identical clothes, but clothes that are somewhat similar. The hardest part about taking a family portrait in Mason’s family is getting all the young kids to sit still. The best part is when they take a goofy picture.

Have you ever taken a family portrait? Was everyone able to sit still and not blink? Did you and your family members wear coordinated outfits for the portrait?

 

Comments

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sara1998

sara1998

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Iranian people usually have many family portrait…


when ever we go out with our relatives we take so many goofy pictures and you know after some times when you look at them they make you laugh and they make you remember so many funny memories!


:)

09:41 AM Feb 05 2014 |

thankam therese 98

India

all are cute…nice to meet you guys


06:58 AM May 14 2012 |

ola33

ola33

Japan


Family portraits. Well, that was a long long time ago when the members of the family were still alive and not scattered around different countries. It was usually one of those happy moments of getting together, like around 15 people and after quite drinking and eating, we sort of didn’t care how we look like on the picture. Amazingly everyone was just an eye-candy if not to take into account my swollen cheek after visiting a dentist but I was laughing so it wasn’t that vivid.:) Both it’s a good memory and a little bit sad to look at it now, as some of the members are gone… What I find a real blessing is when you’ve got a family and it can hardly fit in the frame.


12:08 AM May 14 2012 |

Orchestra

Orchestra

Russian Federation

I’ve never taken part in whole extended family’s portrait taking. But I have with some part of it. So, I can’t really figure out what kind of challenge you all are talking about!)) Never dealt with such a stuff. As far as the way of my family portraits often being taken is concerned, it normally takes even less than a minute. No either bickering or some kind of it. Probably, that’s because my famiy’s not so really big or it’s split up into few smaller groups spreaded out all over the country. So I have and have been photographed with almost all of them but never all of them together. Nevertheless, It does seem to me to be rather ordinary event, and to tell the truth, I don’t realy have lots of emotions and impressions on it =)

11:47 PM May 13 2012 |

S&W

S&W

China

Thank you julito .Yeah.like you said it’s not an english name .My friend from America told me he would pronounce it like the river that runs through Germany “Rhine river”hehehe.Interesting.Laughing

11:21 PM May 13 2012 |

1 person likes this

Victoriaa

Victoriaa

France

I grew up in a small family, my parents had only several relatives. So each time we met there were not many people and as we lived in the same city we didn’t actually have this necessity of doing family portraits. But we have several of them though, and it wasn’t at all challenging in getting a good photo done in quite a short time. Now I got married and my husband’s extended family is really big and spread out all over the country. We don’t have an annual meeting with everybody, and I’d say we get together quite rare, so yes, those time we take a big family portrait and it’s not an easy thing to do, as everybody seems to be engaged in conversations, playing with babies and children, etc. We don’t wear coordinated outfits, every stile is ok.
I like the idea of family portraits since it makes a good souvenir.

07:16 PM May 13 2012 |

1 person likes this

jossef 002010

Morocco

We’ve never taken a family portrait, I mean with the whole family including grandfathers,aunts and uncles, because it’s not that easy to gather them all in one place and in one time ,For me i never met my grandfathers because they both dead and i was child then , but we used to take pictures as a small family which includes  parents and siblings , so the only chance we got to see our extended family is in weddings, so it would be nice to document that great moments in a family portrait .

03:34 PM May 13 2012 |

1 person likes this

MerryAul

MerryAul

Azerbaijan

i like family portrait,we took a family portrait yesteday.

01:52 PM May 13 2012 |

1 person likes this

 julito

julito

Argentina

S@W.   is not an english name , it could be phillipine or Indian name.





01:45 PM May 13 2012 |

1 person likes this

S&W

S&W

China

I have alreay post  my comments .But now i want to ask a question which is has nothing to do with this lesson.Sorry..I saw a english name “Jhine”.I don’t know how the pronunication of this name .Did anyone know this name ?

11:36 AM May 13 2012 |

1 person likes this

sanaa2000

sanaa2000

Egypt

Its nice to have afamily portrait.Iwish ,If Ihave one.Im amuslim girl,and family means alot to us.

09:25 AM May 13 2012 |

alsayadi

alsayadiSuper Member!

Saudi Arabia

we do not have this kind of portrait (extended family) in our culture, some times we take a portrait for a small family group with out any arrangement , however I think the family portrait is a nice Idea

09:13 AM May 13 2012 |

1 person likes this

FUN777

FUN777

Egypt

Well, it’s so nice to take a family portrait, but i think it’s not necessary at all to do these kind of difficult arrangements before taking it, it’s gonna be so wonderful if we taking it by chance.

07:35 AM May 13 2012 |

1 person likes this

siberian tigger

Mexico

When family members have to move from another city to another, It is hard how to accostum to new enviroment with new people in order to settle in a new city. In addition portrait is a classical way to remember family member when I live alone.


Have a nice day.

10:31 PM May 12 2012 |

lulahill

lulahill

Spain

We are so fortunate to live in an age where technology can help us capture precious moments in time.  Such portraits can induce wonderful memories.  

04:47 PM May 12 2012 |

Englishty

Englishty

Egypt

For me no i’ve never taken a photo with my whole family but if i’ll do it i prefer that everyone feels free to wear any clothes or any color or make any impressions even the silly ones, actually the worst thing about the photos for me that i have to sit still and freeze my smile for ever, the funniest thing about the photoes to act freely.

04:46 PM May 12 2012 |

2 people like this

S&W

S&W

China

When i was young ,we took family portrait every year.my grandfather like to take portrait in Spring festivsal.But now all the kids grow up and go to other place.We don’t have the opportunity to took extened family portrait.when i looked thosed old pictures felt so warm。

10:48 AM May 12 2012 |

chantrea

Cambodia

Hey Ryo and snopyboy,


I could not understand you guy.


Are you arguing?It’s out of the topic lesson.

09:42 AM May 12 2012 |

1 person likes this

chantrea

Cambodia

Hey Ryo and snopyboy,


I could not understand you guy.


Are you arguing?It’s out of the topic lesson.

09:42 AM May 12 2012 |

chantrea

Cambodia

Hey Ryo and snopyboy,


I could not understand you guy.


Are you arguing?It’s out of the topic lesson.

09:42 AM May 12 2012 |

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